He wished he’d looked past everything else, and they’d come together before his mother had died, so Jenna could have known her. Heck, he wished for that time back so he and Jenna could have had time together before his father lost himself to the disease that changed both their lives.
Jenna sifted through sarongs in an eclectic little clothing shop, swooping one after another around her neck with dramatic flair as she pranced a short path in front of Pete, batting her eyelashes and putting her palms up toward the ceiling.
“Blue? Green? Yellow?” She fingered the edges of the colorful sarongs.
“I love the green.”
She frowned. “I like the blue.”
He laughed. Only Jenna would ask and then dispute the answer. “The blue is beautiful. It sets off your eyes.”
Jenna wrinkled her brow. “But the yellow will go with my yellow bikini.”
Pete reached for her hand and led her to the cashier. “We’ll take all three.” He pulled out his wallet.
“Oh, no.” She began unwinding the vibrant material from her body. “I can’t afford—”
Pete unwrapped the sarongs, folded them neatly, and set them on the desk beside the cash register. He handed his credit card to the cashier, a gray-haired woman with bright blue eyes and weathered cheeks.
“Pete, you can’t buy all of them.”
He draped an arm over her shoulder. “I think I just did.”
“Petey…thank you.” She hooked her finger in his shorts.
The nickname no longer struck him as out of place. It claimed him as hers, and he liked that.
THEY WALKED AROUND until the sun went down, and then they got takeout to eat in the park with Joey. It was intimate and romantic. Pete had ordered dinner for the two of them, and as he handed Jenna her dinner, she was surprised by what he’d chosen for her—oysters on the half shell and a chicken Caesar salad. Two of her favorite foods.
“How did you know exactly what I’d want?” She watched a smile curl his lips.
“I told you before, just because we weren’t dating didn’t mean I wasn’t paying attention. I adore you, Jenna, and I guess that my mind must have known that before my heart caught on, or the other way around. You know what I mean.” He leaned in for a kiss.
She thought she must have died and gone to heaven. All those years she thought he hadn’t paid much attention to her, and meanwhile he was memorizing her likes and dislikes?
“What do you think of the Vineyard?” he asked.
“Amazing, but I’m glad this was my first time. Now we have something that’s ours. Or at least in my memory it is.” She put her hand on his thigh, worrying over the question she couldn’t keep from asking. “Have you…taken many women here?” What is wrong with me?
“Eh, I guess I bring a different woman about every other week or so.” He sipped his drink, and Jenna’s heart sank.
He set his drink down and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “You’re a goof. Do you think I’d take you someplace I made a habit out of taking other women? What do I have to do to prove how different you are?” He kissed her, and the zing Jenna had come to love warmed her all over. “The last time I was here was a few years ago with Sky. I brought her the summer after she graduated from college.”
She poked him in the side. “Don’t do that to me. In fact, if I ever ask you something stupid like that and the answer is not something I would want to hear, lie to me, okay?”
He shook his head. “No can do. I’m not a liar.”
She loved that about him. They poured more water into Joey’s water bowl and watched families stroll around the park.
“So, when are you going to fess up to turning off your hot water so I’d come over and fix it?”
She nearly choked on her drink. She swallowed the liquid and blinked away the surprise. “Excuse me? I didn’t turn off my hot water.”
He arched a brow. “Jenna, I was there, remember? I fixed it?”
“I swear I didn’t do that. I even checked the fuse box to make sure it hadn’t flicked off.”
“Tripped.” He flashed a sweet smile.
“Whatever. Do you really think I’d take a shower at Bella’s if I could have—Oh my gosh.” She narrowed her eyes. “We’ve been had.”
“We have?”
“I didn’t do it, but I’d bet a million dollars that Bella and Amy did. Or at least Bella. They were less than pleased when I asked Charlie out.”
“Well, then, I’ll have to thank them.”
She remembered her towel falling and the way Pete had looked over her butt, all the while causing her entire body to catch flames. She thought she might just have to thank them, too.
“I wasn’t pleased about you asking him out either.”
She snuggled into his side. “Who are you kidding? If I hadn’t asked him out, you might never have been interested in me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I have always been interested in you. If I wasn’t interested, would I know that your favorite color is orange? Or that the dinner we’re eating is your favorite? Would I know that on Tuesday mornings you peek at me from around the side of your cottage? Or that you’re afraid of sharks? Would I know that you secretly wish you could go out on the sand barge with the seals when they gather at low tide on the beach near P-town—regardless of the ten-thousand-dollar fine if you’re caught?”
Holy cow. “Pete? How do you know all that?”
He ran his finger down her cheek. “Because during all those get-togethers, the only thing that interested me was you. I might look like I’m a million miles away, but my mind has always been on you, Jenna. Just you.” He pressed his lips to hers in a sweet kiss.
“I never knew.” Oh, how she wished she had. Maybe she wouldn’t have been so nervous around him. “You said, just me, but at the Beachcomber you were all over that blonde.”
Pete smiled and turned away.
“This is one of those times when you should lie to me.” Jealousy sliced through her.
Pete moved closer and set their food aside; then he pulled Jenna’s legs over his and wrapped her in his arms. “Babe, I have some fessing up of my own to do, and it’s a little embarrassing.”
Jenna braced herself for a blow. “If you slept with her, please lie to me.” She heard the fear in her own voice.
He shook his head. “She’s only a friend, babe. But I did something that I probably shouldn’t have. You were with that guy, and it made me insanely jealous.”
“I like where this is going.” Jenna smiled and ran her finger along his lower lip.
Pete’s eyes went dark.
“Keep going.” She could tell by the way his mouth twitched that he was embarrassed about whatever he was going to reveal, even if he was staring at her like he wanted to devour her.
He touched his forehead to hers. “I feel like a stupid teenager.” He shook his head. “Here goes. I asked her to make you jealous so you would want me as badly as I wanted you.”
Jenna threw her head back with a loud laugh. Her hand flew to her mouth. “You tried to make me jealous? Me? The woman who has been trying to get your attention forever?”
He looked away. “I’m not proud of it.”
“Well, it worked. She basically told me that you were an animal in bed. I thought she’d slept with you, and between that and your comment about erotic, sensual sex…”